Universal Studios Orlando Resort General Discussion (USO, IOA, Epic Universe)

[Diamondback_Is_King]

Also, looks like 2026 ticket plans at Epic came out, and no season passes

[SmartCat7162]

14 hours ago, BB1 said:

Which days will you be doing the parks?

I am unsure probably a week day it might be January 5th. Is there a day you recommend for going to the parks in early January?

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

9 hours ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

Also, looks like 2026 ticket plans at Epic came out, and no season passes

I feel like they might hold off on making it season-pass viable until it's at least 1 year old (after the grand opening). Maybe we'll see it added as an option in June? Or they could add it for 2027 so there aren't any ruffled feathers mid-season.

[SmartCat7162]

My days to pick from are Sunday January 4th, Monday January 5th or Tuesday January 6th. I am hoping to go the day that will be the least busiest which I’m thinking will be that Tuesday since it is getting farther from the first and into the week. But any input is appreciated. We did decide to get the park hopper between IOS and USO. Once again thanks for all the help already!!

Are operations in the parks typically really good? Right now my bucket list is Velocicoaster and Hagrids. Are there any other must ride attractions?

[Diamondback_Is_King]

12 hours ago, SmartCat7162 said:

My days to pick from are Sunday January 4th, Monday January 5th or Tuesday January 6th. I am hoping to go the day that will be the least busiest which I’m thinking will be that Tuesday since it is getting farther from the first and into the week. But any input is appreciated. We did decide to get the park hopper between IOS and USO. Once again thanks for all the help already!!

Are operations in the parks typically really good? Right now my bucket list is Velocicoaster and Hagrids. Are there any other must ride attractions?

Operations are usually very very good a this park, they all got headsets and everything. Velocicoaster hits like 60 second intervals pretty consistently.

Velocicoaster and Hagrid's are both amazing rides, but I would add the Hulk to that list too.

Islands of Adventure Must-Rides:

• Velocicoaster
• Hagrid's
• Incredible Hulk Coaster
• Spiderman
• Jurassic Park River Adventure (although it closes January 5th, 2026 until November of next year-MAJOR referb)
• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

Those are just the best rides there in my opinion, but there are more rides that are good too.

Universal Studios Orlando Must-Rides:

• Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts
• Revenge of the Mummy
• Transformers the Ride: 3D (not a must-ride, but pretty good in my opinion)

Those are the must-rides I would say, but there are other rides there that are good too

 

Single Rider: Universal uses Single Rider Lines, and they save quite a bit of time. But I will say Velocicaoster Single Rider will not save you much or any time at all. Plus, the regular queue line is super cool and much better than the Single Rider Line. So don't use the Single Rider Line on Velocicoaster. But, every other ride will definitely save time going in the Single Rider Line. Mummy, Gringotts, Hulk, and DEFINITELY Hagrid's will save you time. Now the Single Rider Line does often skips big portions of the queue theming, so if that matters to you I would recommend doing the regular line the first time. But after that if you want to save time and don't necessarily care about seeing the lien again, then go ahead and do Single Rider. Hagrid's Single Rider Line is amazing, and can save you tons of time!!! Now if you are a huge HP fan, then you might want to go in the regular line, but otherwise do Single Rider. The wait was a posted 125 minute wait and we waited 10. Such a time-saver. Sometimes the line can be hard to find off of the regular queue, but it is there. The Single Rider Line may be closed, but if you just step over the chain and go down there they don't say anything and just let you go. That's my biggest hack at Universal: USE THE SINGLE RIDER LINES!!!

 

That's all I got right now, but if you have more questions feel free to ask!!

[BB1]

Anyone have any requests for photos/looks in Epic? Heading down tomorrow and will be there all day Thursday! (For context, I’m doing WDW, USO, IOA and KI in one day Friday so wish me luck!) 

[BB1]

Christmas overlay is epic, the choke point due to broken concrete isn’t.

[CoasterJack]

2 hours ago, BB1 said:

Christmas overlay is epic, the choke point due to broken concrete isn’t.

Broken concrete in a 7 month old theme park?

[Phantom Theater]

21 minutes ago, CoasterJack said:

Broken concrete in a 7 month old theme park?

It wild. Everywhere you go, broken concrete. I went this past Sunday and those walls are literally everywhere. I noticed how bad it was in October, they were filling the spots in.

[Diamondback_Is_King]

7 hours ago, BB1 said:

Christmas overlay is epic, the choke point due to broken concrete isn’t.

Even without those walls, it was super bottlenecked in that area

[BB1]

On 12/18/2025 at 11:21 AM, CoasterJack said:

Broken concrete in a 7 month old theme park?

There was broken concrete the first week of operation. They have a few hurdles to get through but even with the bottleneck later in the day it’s not a bad spot to get through. Epic, in and of itself, is still my favorite themepark period. Stardust Green is ranking very well for me and it keeps going up after every visit.

[Diamondback_Is_King]

Universal announces Rockit's replacement tomorrow! Sorry for the small picture, there's a post on Facebook if you want to watch the video (which isn't really anything). Looks to me like Fast and Furious!

[beastfan11]

Ugh. More Fast and Furious. Was hoping for something different for east/west coast. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I have a little hope for a Back To The Future coaster, but I did see the speedometer and immediately think it'd be Fast & Furious. The needle did look like it could be going to 88mph though.

A semi-cloned ride with a cloned theme does feel on brand for Universal/Disney these days. At least this might mean an end to Fast & Furious Supercharged.

[RollerColt]

The Fast and Furious version at Hollywood confuses me. Is there no theming? I see a lot of videos being shared of the test runs and it seems very slow? And not drifting?Perhaps it’s not close to opening yet? 
 

I have so many questions…

[TombRaiderFTW]

I mean, it doesn't EXCLUSIVELY mimic drifting--the cars themselves are on a controlled spin. Here's a video:

They've only said it's opening this year, so it may very well not be close to opening. I would also assume that if they've started testing, we won't see a massive amount of theming in the ride area.

[beastfan11]

Looking like Supercharged will also be set to close. 

[RollerColt]

Not a clone of the California version from what I can gather. Makes sense, since the Hollywood Studios coaster uses the terrain.